Today is my 27th wedding anniversary, and I can't help but compare it to when my parents celebrated their 25th. (Only because they didn't have a big celebration for their 27th.) I was their youngest child and I was already an adult - 20 years old. They didn't have anyone living at home with them anymore. I remember going out with extended family to a restaurant as they opened up gifts that were made of silver.

I, on the other hand, have two who are grown and gone, but still have an 18 year old, 14 year old, two 11 year olds, and a 6 year old at home. It's not that I started having children that much later than my parents did; Nicole was born when I was 21. It's just that like the Eveready bunny, we kept on going and going when it came to adding to our family.

Alyssa, the last child to come from my body is now 14. She and Taylor (18) are away this week for a youth conference, so had we not adopted our youngest three, a fantasy trip to Cancun, Mexico that I saw I could rather cheaply make due to Spirit Airline's 24 hour fare sale yesterday might have been a reality. Instead, I will be looking for a babysitter so Jeff and I can go out.

People have asked me why we adopted. When Ben came home, Alyssa was already in school full time and my days were free to pursue my own interests and work as an interpreter. One friend even jokingly asked if we were afraid to have empty nest syndrome. Are you kidding? An "empty nest" on a bad day sounds like Nirvana.

On a good day, however, our home is filled with laughter and with the sounds of children learning to love and live in a family. It's filled with squabbles as sibling rivalry rears its ugly head, but it's also filled with "I love you's" spoken in English, Haitian Creole, Mandarin Chinese, and signed in American Sign Language.

On a bad day you might hear Micheline say "I wish Caleb would go back to China", or "I wish you were only my mother!" On a good day, however, it's filled with comments such as "You are the best Mama I have ever had", and "I love my brothers! They are my best friends!"

So why did we adopt, and why will we probably do so again? One reason is because we were selfish and wanted more children. Another is that God put the desire into my heart. My last pregnancy was awful and I swore if I had any more children, they would not be coming from my body. Another reason, however, is because we have a home where we can provide love and security and safety to children who didn't know what those words meant until they had a family. Some of them still struggle with believing that a family is forever, but daily we are filling their cups ever so slowly drop by drop.

God has guided us down this path, and it is one that we knew we would be on before we ever even had children. I knew from the time I was a young teen that someday I would raise children that I had not given birth to.

Is it tough sometimes? You bet! If you had told me 20 years ago that I would be the mother to 7 and possibly more I would have told you that you were nuts. If you had told me that I would know Individualized Education Plans and mental health diagnoses like I know my own name, I probably would not have believed you.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. Is it always easy? Absolutely not, but it has been an experience that has taught me much. Through our adoptions I have grown so much just from seeing where my children used to live. I have learned charity and compassion from those who struggle daily wondering how they will feed their family.

I used to think when I was a teen that God never gave me alot of money because He knew I would act like the proverbial rich b****. Now instead, I ask God for the means to share with those in the world who have nothing. To have millions in order to better the lives of orphans worldwide would be my dream. To have all the orphans in the world in the loving arms of a family would be my wildest fantasy.

All of my children have taught me so much, but my three youngest have taught me to never take for granted that I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back and food on the table. They've taught me that you can experience awful trauma and still love and have faith that there is good in the world.

Just yesterday, a friend said, "I could never do it...I could never do what you do." Yes you could, if the desire is placed in your heart. God doesn't ask us to do more than we are capable of doing, and as a quote I love says, "I would rather walk with God in the dark than walk alone in the light."

We definitely have our dark days, but putting our trust in God has built strength and character in all of us. So, as I go out tonight to celebrate 27 years of marriage to my sweetheart and then come home to tuck in my 3 youngest, I will say a silent prayer of thanks to God for blessing my life with all 7 of my children. I'm not as young as I used to be and I tire more easily, but they have blessed my life immensely and taught me much.

We don't have a fancy house or fancy cars, and some might think I am crazy to have 7 children when the bills stack up, but my youngest 3 now know what it is like to have a family. And family is what it's all about.

For more on older parents adopting, read the Older Parent blog
For some other views on large families, check out the Africa Adoption blog, Ethiopia Adoption blog, Transracial Adoption blog, LDS Adoption Blog , Adoptive Parenting blog, Foster Adoption Blog, and Older Child Adoption blog.